Automatic tripper for conveyer-belts.



No. 760,702. PATENTBD MAY 24,1904. y

- J. J; RIDGWAY. ,AUTOMATIC TRIPPBR-P0R GONVEYER BELTS.

APPLICATION FILED JUIiY 16, 1903. N0 MODEL.

2 SHEETS-snm' 1.

THE nomusl Pneus Ca., PNoT-o'LiTHo.. wAsmun'roN. o. c.

' TNO. 760,702.' PATENTBDMAYM, 1904.

` y l J. .'LRIDGW'AY.I

,v AUTOMATIC TRIPPER F011 GONVEYER-BBLTS. l

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 18. 1903.:

No- MODEL. SHEETS-s112012.

UNITI-3D- STATES 'atented May 24, 19021;;-

PATENT OFFICE.

yJoHNJ. RIDGWAY, oFno'sEBANK, Naw Yoan.

1 AUTOMATIC TRIPPER Fon coNvEYl-:R-EELTS.

'SPECIFICATIONrformingpart of Letters meenam. 760,702, dated May 24,1904.

` Applicatioaie/d-Juy16,190s.- salviamo. 165,816. (Nomoaia To all whom it Wfl/wy eoiwerm B e it'known thatI, J oHN J. RIDGWAY, a citizenof the United States, residing at Rosebank, Staten Island, in the county of Richmond andy State of New York, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Automatic Trippers for Conveyer-Belts, of which the follow-l ing is a speciiication.l .v

This invention .relates to improvements inv automatic trippers for conveyer-belts of the kind wherein grain or othenmaterial Ais conveyed from o ne place to'another.

- The object of the inventionis'toprovide au.

.tomaticxtripping means for controlling the propelling mechanism of the deliverer, so that' said. deliverer uponv reaching thel extreme of its travel will have its propelling mechanism l automatically reversed and will travel to its other eXtreme, when the propelling. mechanism-wlll again be reversed, such operation be-JL ing continuous as long as may be desired.

Another object of the invention 1s to construct and distribute the mechanism designed to accomplish this result in such manner that the deliverer will be properly balanced and' not liable to strain, overbalancing, or cumbersomeness of structure, and, further, Ythat the operationof reversing the driving mechanism 1v will be practically instantaneous, thereby keeping the deliverer in course of'constant travel as, long as the conveyer-b'elt is being operated.

I am aware thatdeliverers for conveyer-l belts of kthis kind aref-not wholly new; that; meansfor automatically reversing the deliv-` erer when the deliverer 4is operated' bythe conveyer-belt have been previously employed ;l

but such former constructions have been quitev undesirable and unsatisfactory by `reason of having all the clutching, tripping, and reversing mechanism located on one side of said de-I liverer, thereby rendering it more or less un- .certain in itstravel. 4 Thus unequal distribuclutches controlling the direction the deliv- .By arranging thel conveyer-belt in themanerer willtravel are located on one side of the framework of thedeliverer, while the tripping and reversing means controlling the .clutches are located on the opposite vsid-e of said deliverer. The advantages obtainedby this constructive relation :of parts and the construction of the same will be hereinafter more fully explained and-then pointed out in the'annexed claims... y 2

a side elevation of a conveyer-belt and deliverer, certain parts being broken away and' omitted, as they form no part of the present In .the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse s'ection on the line A A with certain partsomitlted to, more clearly show the operative rela" VVtion of the clutches. 'i

` In the practical. application and "c'onstruc-A tionof the invention, 1 1 are the ,supportingframes, suitably bound together to'form ,a traveling carriagefor the operating mechanism. 2 is a`hood,and 3 a chute" attached theretoV for conveying the grain or other material. to*

the bins or chutes below. -Aconveyer-belt 4, supported in a pulley, (not showm) passes over an idler-pulley 5, thence around an idler 6,' and finally passes-along the bottom of the de- .liverer to a suitable driving-pulley,preferably located on the right side ofthe machine `(Not shown.) VSuitaloly journaled inthe supporti YAYing-frames 1 isa shaft`8, on oneend of which`v -ismounted alargefgear-Wheel9,'and on "'thle` vother -end is vattached a pinionlO,- meshing'f'ii with and driving a gear 11, forming of onefof-a-p'air ofl track-Wheels`12,"said trac whe'els beingl adapted to travel onzthe: track v13. The tubular shafts 15 and 16, upon'which' y the idlers 5 and 6 are respectively m'ounted," 1 f y "l are suitably journaled in thefffsupporting- .frames land have loosely mountedon one end thereof driving-pinions 17 and 18,' whicharewi" held-in constant mesh with'the'zlarge gear 9' ner shown in the drawings it will be'observed that the idlers 5 and 6 are driven in-opposite directions, as shown by arrows in Fig.

This is essential in order to give the large4 gear 9 a reverse movement when `the clutch mechanisms forming part of the shafts'15'and' L 16 are operated to place the pinions in operative engagement with said gear.

The driving-pinion 17 is placed in operative relation with the large gear 9 by means of the following clutch mechanism. The pinion is loosely mounted on the idler-shaft 15 and is held in constant mesh wit-h the large gear 9 by means of a collar 20, secured on the end of the idler-shaft, and a clutch-collar 21, loosely mounted on said shaft, said clutchcollar being movable into frictional engagement with the face of the pinions by a U- shaped wedge-block 22. The tubular shaft 15 has transverse slots cut therein through which the wedge-block projects, the ends of said block being adapted to engage the clutchcollar for ,the purpose above described.

Extendinglongitudinally through the tubular shaft 15 and capable of longitudinal and rotative movement is a thrust-bar 25, one end of which is adapted to engage the wedge-block 22 and force said wedge-block into engagement with the clutch-collar 21. The opposite end of the thrust-bar is screw-threaded, as shown at 26, and engages a similarlythreaded `bracket-plate 27, secured to the side frame 1 in any desirable manner. The screwthreads on the thrust-bar are of a very coarse pitch, so that very slight rotation of said bar will force the Wedge-block against the clutchcollar. The idler-shaft 16 is also provided with a collar 20' for holding the pinion 18 in mesh with gear 9, and a clutch-collar 21' engages a wedge-block 22', said -wedge-block being operated by the thrust-bar 25', which, like the thrust-bar 25, has screw-threads 26' cut thereon, engaging a bracket 27', but are of an opposite pitch for moving it into engagement with the wedge-block. Splined on the outer ends of the thrust-bars 25 25' are sprocketwheels 28 and 29, which receive and are operated by a belt or sprocket-chain30, said chain passing around the sprocket and also around an oscillating segmental sprocket-wheel 31, suitably journaled on a stud 32, supported in the side frame 1. Rigidly secured on the stud 32 outside ofthe segmental sprocket is a reversing or tripping lever 35, the upper end of which carries a weight 36 for positively and quickly moving said lever after it has passed the vertical position. The segmental sprocket-wheel has an upwardly-projecting plate 33, which is y. provided with ay concentric slot 37, in which rides a pin 38, attached to the reversing-lever.

n Secured in the slots by suitable screws are adjustable blocks 40, by means of which the relative movement of the reversing-lever and segmental sprockets can be determined. Attachedto the rail or track and projected in the path of the reversing-lever are stops 4:1 for Voperatively engaging said lever, one of ,which is shown in Fig. 1.

i When the parts are in the position shown `in Fig. 1, the deliverer is traveling toward the right, the segmental sprocket having been moved by the reversing or tripping lever so that the sprocket-chain has operated the sprocket 28 and driven the thrustbar 25 against the wedge-block 22, causing said block to force the clutch-collar into frictional engagement with the pinion 17, thereby locking said pinion with the idler-shaft 15 and turning the large gear in the direction indicated by arrow. Simultaneously with the inward movement ot' the thrust-bar 25 is the outward movement of the thrust-bar 25', thereby instantly releasing the pinion 18 when the pinion 17 is brought into operative relation with gear 9. This result is accomplished by having the screw -threads on the ends of the thrust-bars at a relatively opposite pitch or right and left threads, so that when the segmental sprocket is operated the thrust-bars will, through the medium of the sprocketchain and sprocket-wheels, be moved in opposite directions. When the lower end of the reversing-lever strikes the stop 41, it will move said reversing-lever gradually until passing the vertical position, whereupon the weight 36 will carry it rapidly to the right, causing the pin 38 to strike the adjustable stop L10 and rock the segmental sprocket from right to left, moving the sprocketchain therewith, causing thrust-rod 25 to be withdrawn from contact with the wedge-block 22, releasing the clutch-collar, and freeing pinion 17 from operative relation with gear 9. At the same time the thrust-rod 25 will be moved into contact with wedge-block 25', causing clutch-collar 21 to engage pinion 18,and place said gear in operative relation with gear 9.

While I have shown the device as being worked automatically, of course it is obvious that the reversing-lever can be manually operated to produce the same results.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

i 1. The combination in a deliverer for con- Veyers, of a conveyer-belt, idler-pulleys and their supporting-shafts driven by said belt, driving-wheels for giving travel to the deliverer, driving means normally free on the idlershafts and coiinectedwith said drivingwheels, clutching means for holding the driving means in operative relation with the idlershafts, a tripping device, and means controlled by the tripping device for causing the clutching means to alternately place the driving means in operative relation with the drivingwheels.

2. The combination in a deliverer for conveyers, of a conveyer-belt, idler-pulleys driven thereby, hollow shafts for supporting said pulleys, driving-wheels for giving travel to the deliverer, driving means for operati ng the driving-wheels loosely carried on the idlershafts, clutch devices for rocking the driving IOO means on the idler-shafts, means within the idler-shafts Jfor operating the' clutch devices, a tripping means and means controlled by the tripping means'sfor moving the clutch-controlling means to alternately render operative i andl inoperative through the clutch devices,the

- driving means. v

3. The combination of a delivererfor conveyers, of a conveyer-belt, idler-pulleys driven thereby, hollow shafts for supportingsaid pulleys, driving-wheels for giving travel to the deliverer,.driving means for operating the driving-Wheels loosely mounted onl the idlershafts, clutch devices for locking the driving means on the idler-shafts, thrust-bars alternately movable within the idler-shafts to operatively control the clutch devices, tripping means and connections between the tripping means and the thrust-bars` for alternately moving said bars erated. v

4. The combination inv a deliverer for conveyers, of a conveyer-belt, idler-pulleys driven thereby, hollow shafts supporting said pulleys, driving-wheels forgiving travel to the deliverer, driving means for operating rthe with said driving-wheels and driven by the idler-shafts located on one side of the conveyer, clutch mechanism for alternatelyrendering operative and inoperative the driving when the tripping means is opmeans, and tripping means for controlling the clutch mechanism located on the opposite side deliverers, the combination of a pluralityfof hollow shafts, driving-pinions loosely mountpinions onr the shafts, thrust-bars longitudinally and rotatively movable within the holf low shafts and adapted to operate the clutch devices, each of said thrust-bars having cuton one endv a screw-thread opposite in pitch to the other, means for rotating the 'thrustbars, tripping means, and means connecting the thrust-bar-rotating means and the tripping means for simultaneously moving the thrustlbars in opposite directions.

8. A clutch mechanism for conveyers comprising a hollow driven shaft, a pinion loosely mounted thereon, friction-disks supported on the shaft in engagement with the face of the pinions,a wedge-block projecting transversely through the shaft and adapted to engage the friction-disk, a thrust-bar capable 'of longitudinal movement and located within the shaft and adapted to engage the wedge-block, and means for. operating the thrust-bar for the purpose explained.

JOHN J. RincivvAir.AY

Witnesses:

SWM. A, COURTLAND, '1J GREEN.'

ed thereon, clutch devicesfor locking the 

